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Monday, January 31, 2011

A man of great compositional and
philosophical genius, Viktor Ullmann was murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau during
the Holocaust in 1944. His only
crime? As in six million other cases, he
was of Jewish heritage. Viktor Josef
Ullmann was born on January 1, 1898, the son of an Austrian Imperial Army
officer posted in Teschen (Cieszyn).
Today, the city is split between the Czech Republic and Poland. He was baptized on January 27, 1898, at the
Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Cieszyn.
In 1909, his family moved to the Imperial capital of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, Vienna, Austria.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

I
want to introduce one of the other performers, Jamie Van Eyck, mezzo-soprano,
who has performed all over the United
States, as well as internationally. She studied at Boston’s own New England Conservatory, and is
very happy to be back in town for her work with Boston Lyric Opera.

John:
It's been great to meet you, and to work with you in 'Emperor' where you play the
Drummer, and we have some great interactions. But you also play the principal
role in The After-Image, a piece commissioned by BLO from composer Richard
Beaudoin, who lives here in Boston.
Can you tell us a bit about the piece?

Jamie:
The After-Image was written in 2010, specifically as a companion piece to The
Emperor of Atlantis, or Death Quits. It is a 20 minute
work in three scenes. I play The
Daughter, and I begin the show by sharing with the audience a very special
photograph of my father, who has passed away.
The composer, Richard Beaudoin, was inspired by the fact that in spite
of the chaos and terror of war and, of course, Ullmann’s death, his
compositions were able to survive due to their ability to be preserved in fixed
form, on paper. Similarly, when a person
is gone, we can preserve their memory on paper in the form of a photograph, and
this can actually sustain their presence in the world a very real and powerful
way. The role of The Photograph of The
Father is played Kevin Burdette. As I
become more and more focused on his photograph, I become aware of my father’s
presence and can almost hear his voice.
Beaudoin set text based on poetry and letters written by Rainer Maria
Rilke, Friedrich Rückert, and William Henry Fox Talbot, and wove it all
together in the form of sung and spoken lines for The Daughter and The
Photograph of the Father. The Daughter
describes fleeting images of people and places and the importance of capturing
them on paper (photograph paper) so that they can be held, unchangeable, in our
hands and hearts. The text sung by The
Photograph of the Father expresses ethereal thoughts on life and death. The effect is quite striking, as the Daughter
conjures up the memory of her father through his image, and they are able to
sense one another in a way that seems very real to them both. The piano is the instrument that represents
The Father, and as The Daughter, my companion instrument is the clarinet. Beaudoin chose his instrumentation based on
those available to him in the Ullmann opera, and then ultimately chose to write
for an even smaller quartet of instruments, including clarinet, piano, violin,
and cello. He intentionally wrote for
the same small ensemble used by Olivier Messiaen in his Quartet for the End of
Time, which was written while Messier was being held by the German army as a
prisoner of war in World War II. The
parallels between The Emperor of Atlantis and The After-Image are many, though
the two works couldn’t be more different, visually and sonically.

John:
What is it like to create a work for the first time?

Jamie:
Creating a work for the first time is a really exciting opportunity for a
singer, but it comes with some special challenges. There is an incredible freedom that comes
when studying a work that has never been performed before. There are fewer rules about the way it
“should be done” because there is no history of performance upon which to judge
it. The character is all mine to create,
and as long as I stay within the boundaries of what the composer has written,
none of my choices are “wrong.” As
wonderful as this is, a brand new piece can be more difficult to learn and
digest than a piece which others have studied, written about, performed and
recorded. None of these valuable
learning tools are available to me. Nor
is there an opportunity to study the work with a vocal coach or teacher who is
familiar with it and can share their experiences and offer artistic guidance.

In
the actual performance of the piece, I have an even greater responsibility to
the audience than I might in a piece that’s more frequently performed. As singers, Kevin and I need to present the
text and our intentions with as much clarity and strength as possible, so that
the audience can fully grasp the work on first listen, as they’ll have no prior
experience with it. Of course this is
also a great responsibility for our stage director, David Schweizer, and he has
very creatively designed The After-Image so that it can impact the audience in
a significant way, and then immediately flow into The Emperor of Atlantis. The most exciting part is that we get to
perform for an audience who has no pre-conceived idea of the work. They come in with very open minds and a great
deal of curiosity, because they have no idea what they’re about to see or
hear. This is a unique opportunity to
provide them with a completely new experience.

John:
What is singing new music or contemporary music like? Do you approach it
differently from singing Verdi or Puccini or one of the other traditional
"Greats"?

Jamie:
Contemporary music can be a challenge to learn, depending on the writing style
of the composer. With certain new works,
it’s taken me the better part of a day just to work through a few pages of the
score. It can be a long process just to
master the pitches and rhythms; however The After-Image isn’t written with this
kind of complexity in the vocal line.
Beaudoin’s piece is tonal, and the vocal lines rise and fall in a very
musical way, but in a way that is different from the Romantic Era, Italian
composers that you mentioned. As a
singer, you have to try to get into the musical world of each composer and
understand his or her musical language.
Unless the piece calls for unusual vocal techniques, I approach the
singing in the same way I would approach a work from the standard
repertoire. My goal is always to sing
natural, musical lines, because that expresses the most to the audience.

Kevin Burdette and Jamie Van Eyck in a technical rehearsal for The After-Image. Photo by Julius Ahn.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

The first thing that most of us hear about
“Der Kaiser von Atlantis” (that’s the name in the original German, though we
are singing it in English so it is more accessible for our audience)…is that it
was written in Terezin, a German concentration camp during World War II.

We can never forget the context….that the
creators and performers never had a chance to perform this work; that they were
moved to a death camp for extermination days before the premiere was to take
place…..

But the thing that strikes me and my
colleagues about this piece, what we are discovering in the rehearsal process,
and in the way that our director David Schweizer is helping us tell this story
– is the great humanity, courage and humour in this work! From the writings of
many who were imprisoned in the camp, we read that art gave their lives
meaning; that they no longer felt the pressure to please audiences, to write in
an accepted or expected style, to conform to norms….No, their imprisonment gave
them a kind of freedom – or perhaps a really clear insight – into what was
important in their lives, or in the time they had left.

One way to see this piece, is that the
absurdity of the situation in which the prisoners found themselves in Terezin,
gave rise to this bit of absurdist opera…..But Emperor also turns the reality
of the prisoners on its head….Hitler never gave up on his Final Solution; but
the Emperor is finally convinced that he must cede to Death, and that “Thou
must not take the name of Death in vain”.

I’ve been surprised at the humour and hope in this wonderful gem;
and by the glory of its music…..and I hope you will be too!

Friday, January 28, 2011

We are in tech week now, and there is lots
of excitement and anticipation as we move toward opening on Tuesday Feb 01.

And I’ll be honest…there is tedium too! In
the first week of rehearsal there is lots of excitement as you are improvising,
and discovering what the work has to say…But a lot of that work has been done
by this point, and now we are moving slowly from minute to minute in the opera
as lighting and sound cues are tweaked, and movement is refined around the
newer elements of the set…..But this is where another kind of genius comes in!

If we give short shrift to this fine tuning
– we will have less of a show! The director and production team are working
furiously to illuminate (literally!) all that we have put together in
rehearsal; the set designer and props builder are fine tuning their creations
so they work perfectly with the staging business that has evolved in rehearsal,
we are now receiving and using bits of our costumes….and it is all of this
work, this attention to every single detail that creates a memorable show, one
where there is “eye candy”, “ear candy”….and never mind candy, food for the mind and the spirit!

Sitzprobe 1/26. Photo by Julius Ahn.

The singers also met the orchestra for the
first time this week and we worked
through the pieces together…..This is always a great moment when we move away
from the sound of the piano with which we have learned the piece, and with
which we have created the staging….and we hear the ‘colours’ in the
orchestra…..It is one of my favourite times in rehearsal when we add the
orchestra…..By now I know the piece really well, all the words and notes, and
in the staging I’ve discovered the story we want to tell……But when I am playing
that out on stage, and can really hear/experience/feel the orchestra colours, I
experience a whole new level of meaning for the piece. The genius of a great
composer is not only the notes he chooses to write, but how he orchestrates
those notes……The harmony he chooses to underline a note that I sing, and what
instruments he has playing adds a whole flavour to my thoughts/words/actions,
and in these rehearsals with orchestra I try and be focused and peaceful enough
so that I can experience those feelings, and let them percolate into my
performance. Again, it is all about detail…..

And the sum of all these details is
creating a wonderful show!! We will see you – and you will see us – soon!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Viktor Ullmann composed The Emperor of Atlantis, or Death Quits while at the concentration camp, Terezin. Hear what Stage Director, David Schweizer and Conductor Steven Lipsitt have to say about Ullmann's fascinating and inspiring music. Boston Lyric Opera's upcoming production features a world premiere piece, composed by Richard Beaudoin, The After-Image.

We’ve come to the end of the second week of
rehearsals. The show has been blocked for several days, and we have continued
polishing our work. We are now running longer and longer sections of the piece,
making sure that the links move smoothly, and that there are no “dead spots”.

1/20/11 Boston, Mass. -- John
Mac Master as Harlequin delivers his lines from scene 1 during a
staging rehearsal for The Emperor of Atlantis at the Boston Center for
the Arts in Boston, Mass. January 20, 2011. In the background is Kevin
Burdette (right) playing the roll of Death/Loudspeaker. Photo by Erik Jacobs

Most folks probably understand how much
refining of the music would be part of putting an opera together – and we are
certainly doing that! But in the process of staging an opera, a really fine
director is always looking at the visual elements….She or he will be very
concerned to make sure that the drama is well served, that the interactions
between characters are clear, real, authentic…But the director also wants to
make sure the story is told visually, and that it unfolds in such a way that
the audience’s eye can follow the action, and that a multitude of memorable
pictures are created along the way.

So in these last few days we’ve being
fining and refining all of the action, editing out that which is unnecessary,
tightening all the actions, making sure that the Supers are moving as a well
schooled unit….Yesterday we started adding some sound effects. And later today
we will do a first real run through. The design team will be there (set
designer, costume designer, lighting designer, soundscape designer) and they
will be seeing the show not just as it has been planned in meetings that have
gone for over a year – but now seeing it on our bodies, in our voices as we
have created it in these two weeks of staging. The set pieces or set dressing
that we do not yet have will be added tomorrow while the cast has a day off,
then on Tuesday we will start piano technical rehearsals….All of the design
team will be here, adding costume bits as they are finished, adding the
lighting, building the sound effects, and the show will continue to evolve, and
be polished in this week that leads to our opening on Feb 01….We hope to see
you there!!!!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

A few of my friends and I attended an opera production
earlier this year. We’re all friends through the music department, some of us
majors, minors, or some merely enthusiasts. We fully comprehend music, respect
the arts, and have fun enjoying a wide array of productions and concerts. But,
sometimes, unintended offenses can be made. This is our story.

We arrived at the theater on time (read: fifteen minutes
early), and made it to our seats. We scoured the program notes, and filled in
any gaps any one had before the performance began. Lights down, curtains up,
and all of us were immediately engrossed. Between Act I and II, some of the
group I was with needed a break and refreshment and proceeded to the lobby for
air and snacks.

One of my friends did return to his seat with
a snack, which made me slightly nervous. I looked at my friend, giving the
“I-hope-you-don’t-embarrass-us-by-eating-snacks-loudly-during-a-performance”
look, which he received well. Lights down, curtain up. He didn’t finish in time
for the show. Gasp attack as I saw from the corner of my eye his hand reaching
into the bag of candy he had. However, he operated deftly throughout the entire
act. I sat next to him and didn’t even flinch as he nommed
on his candies. Achievement: successful opera snacking. Could have fooled me!
Fast forward to intermission between Acts II and III. Confrontation ensues:

A woman walks up to our row. My friends and I got giddy, thinking she was so
pleased seeing college students at an opera. Wrong.

“Omigosh. What are you doing,” she whined. “You’re eating candy, and making all
that noise? Come on! This is opera, not the movies.”

(Doink doink…)

The people would like to point out that there are two points to this story: 1)
opera etiquette and 2) stuffiness.

My friend made a critical error in bringing the snack into
the realm of the theater. Though it may be seemingly innocuous, sometimes even
the slightest of sounds can wreck a LIVE opera experience for someone else in
the audience. Out of courtesy for others, snacks should really be consumed
before coming back into the theater. It might not bother everyone, but there
might be that one person (like my friend found out) that was extremely annoyed
by it. Think about it this way if it helps: it’s kind of like when you are at
your favorite band or singer’s concert, and that one really tall person is in
your way. You have to struggle to see, so you’re not paying attention to what’s
going on at all. You ask them to trade places with you, and they refuse to.
Disturbing someone with that extraneous noise is quite similar to this
situation. Just don’t do it, and pay it forward, friends.

Now, stuffiness. Opera and the movies are not all that different. I mean, the
plots of operas have been the foundation or inspiration for many movies, books,
and musicals. It really bothered me that this woman chose to make that
comparison. While it is true that we are listening to art music and should be
attentive to the details of the artistic presentation of the story and music,
we should not lose the fact that we are in the theater to be entertained as
well. To lose sight of that is another critical error in being an audience
member. Are you having fun? If not, loosen up a little bit! Are you being
moved? No? Then get your head out of the details for a moment to see the
humanity in what’s going on at that moment on stage.

Monday, January 24, 2011

I’m now blocking the bulk of my scenes, and
my partner is Kevin Burdette. He plays “Death” and the “Loudspeaker” in The
Emperor of Atlantis, and also plays the Father in “After Image” which is the
piece commissioned by Boston Lyric Opera to premiere here, and which opens the
evening’s performance.

In the score Death is described as an old
soldier, Harlequin (my role) as one who can laugh through his tears. The show
opens with us ‘sitting around in retirement”…..What a great day’s rehearsal!….I
won’t spoil your enjoyment of the show by telling you what we are doing; but it
was great rehearsing and improvising with Kevin Burdette, with David offering
thoughtful suggestions…..Over the next few days we would come back to this big
scene again and again, adding, refining – taking what we had improvised,
keeping what was good, polishing the better bits, and leaving the dross aside…..What
a great way to work!

Day 6

We meet the Supers! Traditional opera often
has a chorus; this show does not. But we do have “supers”. These are
supernumeraries, usually volunteer folks from the community who love to be
onstage. They usually neither speak nor sing, but serve as townspeople, “the
crowd”, onlookers, whatever is required….and generally provide atmosphere. In
this case they are being asked to do far more, with really specific actions and
they also move units onstage…and what a terrific bunch they are….the few I have
had a chance to talk to include a couple of voice students at university; a
modern dancer, an aerialist who has studied circus; a couple of folks who are
young actors trying to get established. They are such a focused and intelligent
group, and they are bringing such skill to our show. What a treat to have them
onboard. Generally they work with us in the evenings and some weekend
rehearsals, so they can hold down “day jobs”.

Day 8

We finished blocking the show last night,
and ran the last long section together before quitting for the night. Now we
can see the arc of the show. In the week ahead we will continue to flesh out
each scene, making sure that every moment continues to connect with the
material, that there are no weak spots. We will also be trying to deepen our
connection to the words and music, and start to really flow things together –
trying to get the long arc of the story of our character in the context of this
piece, and in the way in which David Schweizer is helping us tell the
story….Every day is more discovery, more shaping, forming, cutting away….This
is the week to link up all the scenes, and tighten our drama….By next week we
will be adding the technical elements (sound, light, costumes, wigs, makeup –
then finally the orchestra) and while the drama will continue to evolve next
week, we need to have a really solid base this week.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

This morning we have a meet and greet with
all the staff at Boston Lyric Opera….It takes an office full of people to run
an opera company….The artistic side that plans repertoire, chooses artists; the
technical side that rents or builds a physical production and gets it into the
hall in a timely fashion; the marketing and PR side that tells the world about
the work we are trying to do, and sells the tickets for the performances; and
the development people that raise the money for us all to do this work. In a
typical performing arts organization, if we sell ALL of the tickets to ALL of
our performances, we will still need to raise 60% of the company’s budget from
sponsors and donors! So at the meet and greet we all get to meet each other, as
we will all be working together to make the show a success.

Stage Director David Scheweizer shares his vision with the company. Photo by Julius Ahn.

Now David Schweizer, who is the Stage
Director for this production, will tell us his plan, his ideas about this show,
and how he is planning on staging it. Like all of us, David is a freelancer –
hired by Boston Lyric Opera to come and work on this project. David is a very
well known director, and has worked in theatre, music videos and for opera
companies. He has a huge and well deserved reputation garnered over some 30
years of directing; and in many cases he has shepherded the weird and the
wonderful to the stage….so we are in great hands. He has already spoken to the
entire cast on the telephone in the weeks that led up this, to get our ‘take’
on our characters, to give us a sense of how he will be proceeding. Nothing is
a surprise this morning, but it is good to experience his calm focused manner,
and a kind of “Puckish” humour that promises some laughs along the way…..

Day 3

Is a snow day! We are all within walking
distance of the theatre, but the building itself is closed as the staff cannot
get in….By early afternoon there have been some e-mails exchanged, and a few of
us gather at David’s for some wine and snacks, a chance to get to know each
other better.

We’re on the tail end of our first week of
rehearsals, and the show is in great shape. I thought I would give you an
overview of how we are getting from day one to opening night. Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks.

DAY 1

Concept for Harlequin by Costume Designer Nancy Leary

Monday January 10 was our first day of
rehearsal, and was devoted mostly to music. It can take anywhere from a few
weeks to a year to learn an opera – depending on the size of your role, the
length of the opera, styles of learning etc. I had learned all the notes and
words in May and June last year, when I had some free time between and around
engagements, and then had gone back to the piece in December to really polish
the music, and learn some text changes that had been made. But the first day of
rehearsal, when you sing your music with your colleagues is always exciting –
and a bit daunting! You want to make a good impression, you don’t want to let
your colleagues down…..And in the case of this music, there are some really
‘crunchy’ bits where the harmony is not what you would expect, and you hope it
will all work out. This is a great cast though, and everyone was extremely well
prepared, so it was a fun day. Steven Lipsitt is our conductor – and he had
done the piece 16 years ago; he speaks fluent German and had done his own
translation (we are singing the piece in English) – and he has studied the
original manuscripts of the work….so there is no question you can ask about
this piece that he has not thought about, and to which he has given
consideration. Plus he is a great guy, and really helpful conductor. We won’t
have our orchestra until days before opening – so for all the blocking
rehearsals we have Allen Perriello who will play a reduction of the orchestra
part at the piano….He is terrific, and with the conductor helps us make sure we
are remembering the right words, right notes.

I'll write more soon, so keep checking in! If you have
questions, email theblobunch@gmail.com and we'll get back to you.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

The year was 1967, and Pierre Boulez, the famous conductor, felt strongly that modern operas should not be performed in traditional opera houses. His tongue-in-cheek solution? “Blow up all the opera houses,” he said, and use experimental theaters for experimental work.

He was kidding, but the man has a point—presenting opera in nontraditional spaces is thought-provoking and cool. And every season, BLO does just that—with the winter Opera Annex production, presented in a different, unique location each year outside the traditional opera house.

The inaugural Opera Annex production last year, Britten’s haunting The Turn of the Screw, was performed in the Park Plaza Castle. The audience sat on raised platforms, and the stage formed a long, narrow corridor. Video footage was projected on a large screen above the singers, including live feed of two of the opera’s characters performing a scene in the basement of the building—while other characters performed onstage. Using a found space is a great way to keep an audience rapt from start to finish—when theatrical boundaries as basic as time and space are challenged, anything can happen.

Haydn’s Il Mondo Della Luna (The World on the Moon) at the Hayden Planetarium—NYC, 2010, by the Gotham Chamber Opera

Setting an opera about a fanciful trip to the moon at a planetarium seems like a no-brainer, and a clever way to bring together science and the arts. The Planetarium came equipped with a beautiful domed ceiling (no load-in necessary) and lots of starry video footage, but also came with its own daunting technical problems: for instance, regular theater lighting couldn’t be used—it would wash out the projections of stars on the ceiling. So, Ted Southern, an artist who also designs astronaut gloves for NASA, built lighting into the costumes.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

It is not too late to join The BLO Bunch for the remainder of Boston Lyric Opera's 2010-2011 Season. There is so much in store, from the two remaining mainstage productions, Agrippina and A Midsummer Night's Dream to the second annual Opera Annex production, The Emperor of Atlantis, or Death Quits. Subscriptions are still on sale, as are individual tickets to The Emperor of Atlantis, or Death Quits. All three productions have a special student night (always the Wednesday night of the run) followed by a post-performance reception! You can buy all three as a bundle or pick and choose. Call Audience Services for details (617.542.6772)

What are these operas all about?

Ullmann's The Emperor of Atlantis, or Death Quits: Hope, humor and the value of the human spirit prevail when Death takes
life’s side against an evil Emperor. In 1943, composer Viktor Ullmann
and poet Petr Kien created this almost inconceivably wry and uplifting
opera while in the concentration camp Terezin. Their opera survives as a
rich testament to freedom and human will power.

Handel's Agrippina: Agrippina wants her rotten son to be the Emperor of Rome. What’s a
mother to do? She promises anything to everyone standing in her way:
Nero himself, an ambitious courtesan, a general, a couple of fawning
sycophants, and half the Roman Senate. Also her husband, current Emperor
Claudius. The numbers are staggering. No, really. Handel’s music soars.
Come delight in his fresh musical invention and some crazy, hothouse
humanity.

Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream: Ah, the thrill of the chase. Over hill, over dale, girdling the Earth in
forty minutes—when the words are mostly Shakespeare, even the libretto
sings. Britten gives us a stageful of sprites and mortals in a touching
and very funny take: a dreamscape. Or is it a nightmare? Depends on how
you feel about unrequited love, and donkeys.

Friday, January 14, 2011

What assumptions do you have about opera? Or about what it means to work for an opera company? Do you think that everyone who works for an opera company has listened to and loved classical music their entire lives? Or that everyone is a singer and maybe, a bit on the older side? You just might be wrong...

Before I worked at Boston Lyric Opera, I knew very little about opera; in fact, I had only seen one live performance of an opera. However, my love for live theatre and enthusiasm to learn trumped my lack of knowledge and I embarked on my opera career. I still do not know how to sing and I cannot read music, but none of that matters; I care about opera.

Like me, some of my colleagues also knew very little about opera before employment at BLO. Our backgrounds are varied, but all have a tenuous link to performance in some way or another and none of us are more than 5 years out of college. Conclusion? A phd in musicology is not required to work at an opera company...at least, not on the admin side! Hear for yourself, what some of the staff has to say about working for an opera company.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Although I am admittedly an “opera-newbie” and have yet to
see a live opera performance, I am glad that my internship at BLO is going to
change that. A long time lover of musicals and theatre in general, I am
definitely excited to see a different type of show on stage. I must admit
though, that I am particularly excited to see Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream this spring.

As any good English major should, I’ve definitely had my
fair share of exposure to Shakespeare’s works – but not like this. We were
always taught that one of the greatest things about the Bard is that his works
are universal and can be adapted in a plethora of ways – and they actually make
sense (most of the time). The classic plays can be performed just as they were
written in the period they are set, done with complete 16th century
costumes and sets, and sure, people enjoy them. With the romance, fighting,
lies and the occasional disguise, what’s not to enjoy? Take the classic
story, set it in modern times and tweak the characters a bit, and the universal
themes speak to an even wider audience. From West Side Story to She’s the
Man (yes, the movie starring Amanda Bynes) it’s been done before. Through
these mediums, a whole new audience has been introduced Shakespeare’s works without
even knowing it.

There is no denying Shakespeare’s influence over all facets
of theatre and film; but I never realized that his influence extended to opera.
When I think about it, though, it makes perfect sense – if set to the correct
music, Shakespeare’s text would almost flow right off the tongue; and the
music, if anything, only emphasizes the varying emotions that sometimes are not
easily conveyed with words. Not to mention most of the plays already embody
characteristics that make operas so entertaining – passion, tension, and of
course, romance. I guess the ease with which Shakespearean works lend
themselves to adaptation makes it hard to believe that the Britten adaptation
of A Midsummer Night’s Dream won’t do
the work justice. I think I’m just excited to see Shakespeare from yet another lens.

Friday, January 7, 2011

21st century opera production is all about
finding clever ways to land a new generation of butts in seats. Very often this
means adding a modern spin—setting Don
Giovanni on the streets of Harlem, or setting Cosi fan Tutti in a high school, complete with a Dorabella who
obsessively texts her sister Fiordiligi. Or, if you take La Boheme, update the characters to mid-nineties New York, give the music a rocker feel, and —

Oh, wait.

If you’re reading this blog, I’m sure you knew that RENT is
based on La Boheme. When I first saw RENT as a preteen, while I technically knew
that the source material was La Boheme, I
didn’t know enough about opera to understand what that meant. RENT is chock
full of references to its predecessor—however, there isn’t much crossover
between the two audiences, and references, after all, are meant to be noticed.
So, if you are ever rocking out to RENT in the car, tug on your seatmate’s
sleeve during “La Vie Boheme” and point out Musetta’s waltz, played by Roger on
the electric guitar.

THE BASICS:

Setting:Boheme: Paris; RENT: NYC

The dread disease:Boheme:
Tuberculosis; RENT: AIDS.

The characters:

Boheme: RENT:

Marcello, a
Painter Mark,
a filmmaker

Musetta, a
singer Maureen,
a performance artist

Rodolfo, a poet Roger, a
songwriter

Mimi, a
seamstress Mimi,
an exotic dancer

Colline, a
philosopher Collins,
a computer genius

Schaunard, a
musician Angel Schunard, a
street performer

Alcindoro, a
councilor Joanne, a lawyer

Benoit, the
landlord Benny,
the landlord

Other points of
interest:

In an early
scene in Boheme/RENT, Mimi
knocks on Roger/Rodolfo’s door because her candle has gone out. In the
resulting scene, Roger lights her candle, sexual tension ensues, Mimi
loses an object belonging to her (her ring/stash of cocaine), and they
look for it together. While some of the lines in the scene translate, Boheme-Mimi is a demure little seamstress
and it is doubtful she would inquire, “they say I have the best ass below 14th street,
is it true?” If she had even lived below 14th street.

The
beginning of Mimi’s aria “Si, mi chiamano mimi,” (or, “they call me mimi”)
is mirrored by the end of the “light my candle” duet in Rent, in which Mimi sings as she
exits: “they call me…they call me…Mimi.” Aaaand, blackout.

For
most of the show, Roger, a musician and former guitar hero, is trying to
write a song. However, he has
persistent writers’ block, so all he can play is the theme from Musetta’s
waltz, “Quando me’n vo.” The theme also
plays during moments of high emotion, like at the end when Mimi dies.
However— Mimi
doesn’t actually die in RENT,
she just sees a bright light for a little while and then recovers.

Basically, take La
Boheme, change every dimension of the work to line up with the 1990s
instead of the 1890s, including the fundamental musical idiom and language, and
you get RENT. You would probably
never guess it was based on Puccini if you didn’t already know. However, RENT is still almost continuously sung—why
not call it an opera, too? The term “rock opera” is far more closely associated
with musical theater than opera, and maybe we in the opera world should steal
it back. It is definitely in classical opera’s interests to point out that
opera is an incredibly broad category— it’s essentially just a theatrical work
where the mode of communication is singing. Now, I have absolutely no desire
for the Met to put on Jesus Christ
Superstar next season, or to put the Broadway musical on the same plane as
Mozart, but it’s worth it to remember that all these stories and musical
traditions are very closely related.

There are also many current productions of La Boheme set in modern times—a soprano
playing Mimi in La Boheme could be
dressed exactly like a broadway belter playing Mimi in RENT .

Putting Puccini’s music on the same stage as the nineties
rebel-punk aesthetic highlights the contrast, sure, but it also shows how well
they go together. Marcello and Rodolfo may not get to rock out exactly the way
that Mark and Roger do, but they still get to make thrilling sounds with their
voices. Listen to both versions—for instance Musetta/Maureen’s music, “Quando
me’n vo”/“Take Me Or Leave Me,” and see how they each move you in different
ways.

Now, La Boheme is not the only opera to inspire a modern
musical—it’s also true with Madama
Butterfly and Miss Saigon, an
adaptation set in Vietnam
(not Japan)
during the Vietnam war. I know there’s at least one more…